Financial Strength
Profits are the lifeblood of a company; certainly not the sole reason we exist, but necessary to reward good people in our company and back up our commitments. BSI has been profitable in 49 of our 50 years in business. We maintain more than sufficient liquidity and capital to get through tough situations. One key objective measure of a contractor’s financial strength is the ratio of its bonding capacity to its annual volume. A general contractor's bonding capacity (the amount of underwriting guarantee available from its surety) is determined by its management capability, track record, and net assets. BSI’s bonding capacity has averaged twice our annual volume over the last twenty years. Because of this, our clients usually forego the expense of a surety bond. But when one is required, we are happy to secure it from the Chubb Insurance Group, one of the most selective sureties in the construction industry, and recipient of A.M. Best's highest rating (A++, Superior). Chubb has been underwriting us for 45 years and considers BSI one of their premier accounts.
Job Size
The largest single project we have undertaken was over $300 million (in current dollars). We’ve completed a few others in the $100 - $200 million range. Most of our projects are in the $3 million to $40 million range. But for a regular client, no job is too small. While the tendency in the industry is that smaller projects get less attention, we are proud to consistently earn great references from our small projects. Every project counts at BSI. If we sign up for it, you are going to get our attention. But if you do happen to select BSI for a “big” project, you will witness a rare combination of “big company” capability and “small company” hands-on attention.
Annual Revenue
What is our annual revenue? Who cares? Gross revenue is far down the list of things we worry about at BSI. It is true that contractors are often ranked by it. And we do enough work that we’re usually in the upper tier of general contractors based upon work completed in our primary St. Louis metro market. But we would much rather focus on doing a smaller volume of quality projects for really great clients than chase revenue growth. While some businesses take pride in an increasing revenue stream, we find that our clients are mostly interested in the level of focus and attention we bring to their project. Go figure.